The Last Stand
by YoloSwagMaster360
Summary: Tim and his crew have one goal: Get the the Federation base and give them news!
1. Chapter 1

The rain started as they were sitting around in the hangar.

"So... I guess this ugly hangar is the last place we'll see of this planet." Said Aarron ( A.K.A Varnison or HulkGames ), the tallest and strongest of the three teenagers about to fight an intergalactic war.

"Better than your mom's house." Said Dante ( A.K.A. MCBumblebee ), the shortest and palest of the three.

"I like it in here. People who actually know what they're doing, which isn't common in this universe." Replied Tim ( A.K.A Benefactory or swagFactory ), the darkest skinned and smartest member of the three.

"I guess we should assign roles. Aarron, how does weapons sound? And Dante, you man the engines."

They both swiftly agreed and glanced at each other. They all thought the same thing. That everyone would die in a horrible explosion. The silence was broken, however, by a commander about to confirm their mission.

"Have you decided on roles? Written your wills? Said goodbye? Well too bad, me neither. You will be joined by this young Engi here.

He pulled an Engi up to face them.

None of the three had ever seen an Engi before, except in the brief training that they each received to capitalize on their specific talents. Dante was trained to man the engines and dodge the bullets like the majestic bumblebee he was on the inside. Aarron had been taught to man the weapons and attack aggressively and relentlessly. If the enemy wasn't quickly wiped out, the other two would be practically rocks. ( He had never seen a rockman at this point in training. ) Tim had been taught leadership skills, to the point of leading an entire army of military ships to fight. He was able to pilot the ship, dodge bullets like lightning, but he couldn't do that since Aarron needed to aim and Dante got very motion-sick, which didn't help add to his already large thick-headedness.

"Hello, new crewmates. My name is King."

Everyone was silent. They were surprised that this... thing could talk.

"What? Never seen an Engi before? Why don't I turn into some scary monster and scare you?" They knew that Engi could adapt to other forms, but they didn't know that he was bluffing and his powers didn't extend that far.

"Don't mind them. They're not very welcoming people. Nice to meet you, King."

"Same to you. If you don't have anyone manning your shields, I'd like to do that. I have experience."

"Sure thing, your highness." Dante mocked, only to be greeted by a very cold slap.

"Cadets! I will now inform you of your mission! We know of a huge rebel wave coming towards the Federation base! We must send you to the home base of the Federation in order to inform them! We must also tell them to attack the Flagship! That is their jewel; the whole Rebellion will collapse in its absence. You four are the only hope for the whole universe. You cannot fail, or else every single thing alive in all of existence will die! The universe will become a shell! All of existence will end! Go forth now, and win this fight for us! If you four cannot do it, then no one can!"

"A 'good luck' would have been fine. With our skills combined, this universe will be saved!" Aarron remarked.

"Just the ramblings of an old man. Win for me! Win FOR THE FEDERATION!"

The four of them turned and walked toward their ship, the little Kestrel, the hope of the universe.


	2. Chapter 2

The crew all walked onto the ship and said goodbye to each other for the time being. Tim set up a system so that they could communicate, wherever they were in the ship.

"Everyone, to your positions." Commanded Tim.

Reluctantly, everyone powered up their systems. This ship was special, the default fighting style for this group was to use missiles to disable the shields, and blast away with lasers.

"I look forward to working with you idiots." Remarked King.

"Shut up, your highness."

"My name is-" King was interrupted by an automatic message.

 **DANTE HAS LEFT THE CHANNEL.**

 **DANTE HAS ENTERED THE CHANNEL.**

"I don't care."

"Don't do that, if you disappear we'll think you're joking.

The four heroes blink to the next station.

About four stations later, an automated rebel scout is positioned, waiting. Its weapons go hot.

"Aarron, don't use the Artemis. ( Artemis is the name of the default missile launcher. ) He has no shields. Just use your Laser blast Mark III. ( Name of the default blaster. )" Tim said.

This turned out to be a mistake, about 20 seconds later a small shield popped up, only to be swiftly blasted with one laser. A detachment fell off of the ship, a Pike Beam Mark II.

"Sweet, a new gun! Can't wait to murder people with it!" Aarron proclaimed.

"Maybe you like your job too much. Are you sure you'll stay sane until we get to the Federation base?" Dante questioned.

"Since when was I sane?"

"Why did we become friends with this nut-job?"

"Since when were we friends?"

"Stop arguing, guys." Tim interjected.

"Arguing? I'm having a whale of a time!" Aarron replied.

During this conversation, a ship with the familiar purple markings of a pirate warped in.

Tim received a warning message. "Give me your goods! I'll-"

All that was heard was an explosion as a missile was fired. They retrieved 2 missiles, and way more scrap that a small pirate cruiser should ever have.

"Give me the scrap, earth species. This scrap is enough to buy 2 new shields and upgrade the reactor enough to power one."

"Why would this pirate have so much scrap? He doesn't need it, his ship was fine before Aarron brutally exploded him." Tim questioned, giving King the scrap and warping to a nearby store.

They walked into the station, but no one was there. There were four dead bodies on the floor. One Mantis, two Engi, and a Lanius.

"A Lanius? This is bad. This is really bad. We need to inform the Federation of this. The Lanius have been awakened." Tim said worriedly.

"Lanius? What's a Lanius?" Dante asked.

"A race of warriors so powerful that they could wipe us all Rebels and the Federation aren't strong enough. They don't need oxygen. All of us other races do. They could help us in the war if we interact with them correctly, though."

To interrupt their conversation, a scream was heard a few rooms over. The crew ran over to hear it.

A mantis had boarded the station and was attacking a Zoltan. "Please help!" The Zoltan cried. Zoltans are known for being weak in battle, even compared to King and the other Engi.

"Come here!" Aarron yelled, grabbing the Mantis by the neck and tossing him out the airlock like a rock.

"I just wanted some fuel, but then this Mantis had to blow up my ship and attack me! I didn't do anything!" The Zoltan screamed.

"What are you going to do now?" Asked Tim.

"Good question. I don't know how to use Mantis technology, so I can't take his ship. I have no clue."

"Why not join our group? We need as many helpers as we can get on our mission. You can arm the doors. Give us some blast doors." King suggested.

"A lowly subsystem? I can power rooms! But then again, I don't know your technology. Fine. My name's Roper, by the way."

"Okay. Now that that's settled, everyone get on the ship. We'll scavenge what we can and leave. I'll set up a chat system for Roper."


	3. Chapter 3

The crew jumped out of the first sector.

"Good. Only six more sectors until we reach the Federation's home base sector. Unfortunately, our next sector is a nebula." Tim said sadly.

"Do we have to go through the nebula? I don't want to. I can't be a majestic bumblebee there because we need my engine's power to power the oxygen systems. Stupid ion storms!"

"Would you rather go through the Rebels' home base sector?"

 **DANTE HAS LEFT THE CHANNEL.**

"Dante?"

There is a large warping sound heard form the engine room. By the time Aarron ( The closest person ) could find out what happened, all that the crew saw was two Mantis tossing Dante out of the airlock.

"Dante!" King grasped for his hand, but it was too late. Dante was gone, flying out of the airlock never to be seen again.

"Come here, you idiots!" Roper grabbed the two Mantis and leaped out of the airlock, carrying the two with them. The three aliens and Dante all flew in the direction of a nearby sun.

"Not you too, Roper! No!" Tim screamed. But before there was time to mourn their losses, another warping sound was heard. One more Mantis had abandoned the ship he was on, leaving an empty ship. He roared, attacking Aarron. Aarron engaged the Mantis in combat while the other crewmates shot at the Mantis. He died quickly, after everyone shot at him Aarron took his head and rammed it against the ship wall, splattering blood all over the airlock room.

Everyone helped clean up the blood quickly before taking apart the Mantis ship. They got very little scrap since it had no weapons systems, but they were able to take all the fuel they could ever need out of its reactor and the reactor of one other Mantis ship who came to avenge the first but was soon destroyed.

"Who will man the engines now? We need to find a shop and hire a mercenary." Aarron stated.

"You're right. Maybe a shop will have someone experienced with a Federation engine." Tim replied.

They jumped to the next sector.

"Many wares!" A Mantis yelled in Tim's face the second he opened the door.

They purchased two mercenaries; One Zoltan named Artyom who was experienced in engines, and a Mantis named Banks who gladly installed a crew teleporter on their ship so that they could warp onto a ship and kill all its members.

"Murder a crew of a ship and take it apart instead of blowing it up? Let's do it!" Aarron agreed as soon as the Mantis mercenary offered his abilities. "Of course, I'll be coming with you. Sounds fun!" Aarron continued.

They practically flew through the sector, murdering innocent Slugs the whole way through. The whole sector flew by. They looted more stuff than they could count.

"Okay, before we jump to the next sector, we should count all of our stuff. The next sector is rampaged by pirates." Tim claimed.

"We have four shield layers and a Zoltan Shield augment." King said.

"We have a Burst Laser, an Artemis, an Area of Effect missile launcher, and a Pike Beam." Aarron said.

"We have very powerful engines. Not very many shots will hit us." Artyom said.

"We're ready to teleport on board another ship at a moment's notice." Banks said.

The conversation was interrupted by a merchant's message. "Would you like a drone system? I can't give you any drone schematics, but I noticed that you can't control or deploy drones." The small merchant said, an Engi walking up with some gear.

"How much will it cost?" Tim asked.

"Just ALL OF YOUR MONEY."

"Sure, but we don't have much." Artyom lied before anyone could tell the truth.

Ten minutes later, they continued.

"We also have a Drone system. If we loot a schematic, then we can install it! We also have a lot of drone bits from all the people I murdered!" Aarron added. "I can control them too!"

The conversation was interrupted by King running into the cockpit and banging Tim's face against the **'NEXT SECTOR'** button. As soon as they warped, King ran back into his room.

"What was that for?"

"The rebels were gaining on us!"


	4. Chapter 4

They arrived in the third sector. It was labeled an 'Abandoned Sector'.

"The next sector seems to be abandoned so we should be just fine! We can just cruise through until we reach the next sector beacon!" Tim claimed.

Unfortunately they were not quite as hungry. The first beacon they jumped to had a Lanius Cruiser.

"Weren't these the warrior people you talked about?" Aarron asked.

"The Lanius are a metallic race that have been dormant for hundreds of years." Banks said.

Before the conversation could continue, two of them warped onto the ship. They ran towards the shield room. But before they could arrive, Banks and Aarron stopped them in their tracks and attacked them. Aarron threw one out of the airlock, but it kept staring and grabbed onto the lock.

"What? He's not dead?" Aarron roared.

"They absorb oxygen and can live without it for days at a time!" Artyom replied.

Aarron tackled the other one and punched him repeatedly. The room was getting low on oxygen. Pretty soon Aarron and Banks would die of suffocation.

"Crap! We might die! Somebody help! Please!" Aarron screamed.

The second Lanius fell to the ground. Meanwhile, the first Lanius crawled back into the ship and grabbed Aarron.

"Help! He's going to kill me!" Aarron said, wrestling with the Lanius."

"I'm sorry, but this is what I have to do." Banks said, grabbing Aarron and his attacker and tossing them both out of the airlock as hard as he could. The Lanius didn't grab the ship again and flew towards a nearby planet. They never saw the two again.

Before they could mourn, another Lanius teleported on board. Banks roared with anger and ripped his large claws across the Lanius' metallic face. Sparks flew everywhere and Banks threw the incapacitated Lanius out of the airlock while he was blinded from the sparks.

Before anymore Lanius members could come on board the ship, Banks grabbed Tim and dragged him to the teleporter room. They warped on board and started attacking the last member. They killed the last one and warped back on board just before they suffocated from the Lanius' lack of oxygen.

They traveled throughout the sector fighting Lanius ships. No other ships had ventured into the Lanius territory and lived. Small pieces of ships were flying through space.

The crew was halfway through the sector when they were hailed by a Lanius ship.

"My ship has been flying through the sector for weeks! I think it's going to completely fall apart soon! Can I join your crew?"

"Sure. We need someone new to man the weapons, thanks to Banks here." Tim agreed.

"I did what was necessary to the survival of the crew!"

"I wouldn't say that the crew feels the same way. That planet just got two humanoid presents."

"Are you two done?"

Tim swiftly teleported the Lanius on board.

"Welcome aboard! What's your name?" Artyom asked.

"My name is Fenn."

"We need another member of the boarding crew. What do you say?" Banks offered.

The boarding crew had now been rebuilt. With the new crew member, they quickly jumped through the dangerous sector to a much safer one, the Engi Homeworlds.


	5. Chapter 5

They arrived in the fifth sector.

"Wow, this job is easy! Thanks for hiring me! I've never killed so many people!" Banks said excitedly.

"Calm down. The hard part isn't here yet." King replied.

"There's a hard part?" Fenn asked.

"Yes! There's a giant wave of rebels headed straight for the Federation base and we're sitting out here. They've been chasing us so that the Federation doesn't learn about our vital information, the weakness of the Rebels." Tim said angrily.

The next sector was a nebula, home of the slugs. Everyone was prepared for a tough fight. The slugs had attempted to join the Federation, but were denied for attempts of manipulation and thievery.

The sector was harder than the other ones. The ships seemed stronger than the other ones they had faced. They had more shields. They had better equipment. None of the crew had ever fought against the Slug race before. They managed to defeat the ships that attacked them, though. Except for one.

A small Slug teleported on board. "Let me on board! I told these people I was leaving the crew, and they all attacked me! Let me stay! I'll join your crew!"

Two other Slugs teleported on board. "Come back to our crew before we have to force you to." They called for the Slug. Before they got an answer, Fenn ran into the room with the two Slugs. He was the only one to come back.

"Welcome aboard." Fenn said with a smile, a smile that normally would not be attached to a vicious murderer.

"Thanks. My name's Matthieu. Federation, I take it?"

"Yes. We don't really have a position for you; go to the Sensors room. You may be able to offer assistance." Tim said.

They warped into the sixth sector.

"Be careful. The Rockmen live here. They are a ruthless and tough race."

"Nothing our ship can't handle." Tim replied.

He was wrong. By the time they were 3 jumps away from the end of the sector, the hull was half destroyed.

Two jumps away, things got a little better. They were hailed by a Rock ship.

"Would you happen to need a crew member and some repairs? Only twenty missiles!" The Rock said.

"Do you think it's a good idea?" Tim asked the crew.

"The Rock are a sturdy and strong race. They would be good in combat." Banks said.

They agreed to the trade.

Once on board, the Rock said, "My name is Yevon Si. What is your desire?"

"Join Banks, the Mantis, on the boarding crew.

With an upgraded boarding crew, they were ready for the seventh sector.


	6. Chapter 6

They enter the seventh sector, another Rock sector. But what they found were definitely not rocks. When they found the first ship, everyone was confused.

"That's a very blue rock." Banks said upon seeing the first Crystalmen.

The ship hailed them. "Please, a slaver is trying to capture me. I don't want to be a slave! Let me join your crew." The Crystalman said.

"Fine. Come on board. Be ready to fight." Tim replied, teleporting him on board.

The slaver warped to the station. "Give me the rare Crystalman! I will destroy you!" The slaver said.

"Come at us, slaver scum!" Artyom yelled, launching a volley of missiles at him. All of them missed. "Fine! Take this!" He said, launching lasers and more lasers and more lasers and more lasers and missed them all. The ship exploded though. Fenn flew out of the wreckage and grabbed onto the airlock.

"You were taking a while so I teleported on board and blew his ship up." Fenn complained.

"Good. That slaver scum paid the price. His slaves all probably blew up, though." The Crystalman said. "My name is Markel, by the way."

They warped through the sector and got to the exit.

"This is the moment of truth. We need to take inventory for one last time and see what we have to fight with." Tim claimed.

"I will scan your ship." Matthieu said.

"You have: Engines, a Pike Beam, An Artemis, 2 Burst Lasers Mark II, 2 Defense drones, a Laser drone, four shields, a Hacking system, a Cloaking system, a Crew Teleporter, and a few subsystems." Matthieu reported.

"Okay. Everyone ready? Let's go!" Tim said triumphantly.

They teleported to the last sector.


	7. Finale

The ship looks nothing like it did when it left the hangar.

The reactor bulges obscenely beyond the hull, upgraded, overhauled, and overbuilt until it was too large for the ship to contain. The shields spark and flare occasionally, struggling to maintain their output through the faulty, salvaged wiring. The fore bristles with weapons too large for any ship your class to support, fixed loosely in place with scrap metal and engine tape.

You've been in this ship for weeks. Interior and exterior alike are a jumbled crisscross of hasty, panicked welds and graffiti. You rarely leave the cockpit anymore. The crew aren't worth talking to, each for his own reason.

Weapons sits huddled up by the targeting panel, catching flies and pulling their wings and legs off, one by one. Atmospherics is slowly turning a permanent shade of blue as he continues his "evolutionary experiments" at the outer airlock. Drones is keeping a list of names on the wall, writing each of his "poor children's" epitaphs in sickening detail. Shields... you don't even let Shields radio you anymore. The endless screaming and wailing are too much for you to take.

And what happens if you fail the next evade when insanity finishes charging and takes aim at you? If the rebels can't stop you, who in the Federation - in the galaxy at large - will stand a chance? Can you finish this war, before you become its new harbinger?

"What is the meaning of this? Who are you?" General Tully yelled.

"We are here with info. The entire Rebel army is on its way here to attack. But they have one weakness. We are here to inform you."

"Intel suggests potential counter to rebel technology. Risk all or save none." General Turzil says.

"The weakness of the entire Rebel fleet: the Rebel Flagship. If we destroy that, then the entire fleet will fall to pieces. The Federation can win, if only we defeat this ship. The Federation can win this war easily."

"It's settled. The Rebels will be here in a matter of moments. We will do what we can to hold off their warships but you must succeed in destroying the Rebel flagship." General Tully responds.

"We have to? We're not suited for combat." Tim replies.

"You are the best equipped ship we have." Turzil said.

"Fine. We will succeed." Banks claimed.

They warp away to find Rebel ships attacking left and right.

"We have to leave. We can't afford to take any damage." King said sadly. "The truth of war." The crew watches a Federation ship blow up.

They wait for the Flagship. It comes in range and the Kestrel and the Flagship jump to the same place at the same time. The ship sends them a short message.

"You must die. Nothing personal, but you will die now. Goodbye."

They fire twelve attacks; three Ion blasts, three shield piercing missiles, three lasers, and three Pike Beams. Artyom cloaks, dodging all twelve. Banks fires back, launching all of their attacks. Only the Artemis and Pike Beam do any damage. Banks and Yevon Si teleport into the triple missile room. They kill the crew, but not before the crew member inside kicks Yevon Si out of his airlock.

"Yevon Si!" Banks grabs his hand and tries to pull him on board. The crew member tackles Banks, tossing all three out of the ship.

"Yevon Si! Banks!" Artyom yells, grabbing Fenn and dragging him to the teleporter room. They go to the Pike Beam room. The crew member in there easily kicks Artyom out of the ship. Fenn grabs the crew member by the throat and headbutts him, then sucks the air out of his lungs, killing him. Fenn warps on board the Kestrel.

"That's what he gets for killing those three. Pull up next to the ship." Fenn says as he walks up to Tim in the cockpit.

Tim pulls the ship up closer to the Flagship.

"Launch the Burst Lasers!" Fenn yells, getting a running start out of the airlock and straight towards the enemy ship. The Burst Lasers penetrate the shields just as Fenn lands on top of the ship. He runs his metallic claws along the ship's hull, blowing up the left side of the ship. Fenn is consumed in the explosion as the ship warps away.

"Pursue it!" King commands as they warp away.

They open up by activating the Defense drones. The enemy ship powers up two attack drones. Relatively minor stuff. Until Matthieu picks something up.

"Power surge detected!" Matthieu screams. Six more drones appear. "Forget everything else, try to dodge!"

Tim easily dodges them all. No weapons are shot for a while.

"Markel! Board the ship with me!" Matthieu says, launching a hacking drone and warping onto the ship with Markel.

They kill two people before a third grabs Markel and bashes his head against the airlock room's wall. "Markel!" Matthieu screams, grabbing the attacker and tossing him out of the airlock. Markel collapses and breaks into small crystal pieces.

"Markel! You'll pay for killing him!" Matthieu screams, bashing pieces of Markel against a crew member's head, and grabs the remaining two and drags them out of the airlock with him.

"Tim! Pay attention to dodging!" King said after noticing that Tim was distracted by the pieces of his comrades on the enemy ship. One person is left.

"You take the engines!" Tim commanded. He shoots several missiles, exploding the left half of the ship. It blinks away.

They pursue the pieces of the Flagship. After they arrive at the beacon that the Flagship is at, they notice another ship attacking the Flagship. It weakens the hull before being broken to pieces.

This was the last stand.

"Take the controls! I'll show them who's boss!" Tim yelled, warping on board. He confronts the remaining member on board.

"You're coming with me!" Tim yells, dragging the crew member out of the side of the ship. No airlock is left, there are tattered pieces of one on the floor.

King is the only crew member left. He quickly composes a message as another crew member boards the Flagship from aboard his own ship.

He sends the message.

The new captain opens the message.

"You lose."

The Kestrel rams the Flagship, exploding both of the ships.

 **FIN**


End file.
